Houston Rockets star James Harden must have six consecutive negative COVID-19 tests before the NBA will authorize him to practice with the team, a league source told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
Harden, the eight-time All-Star who applied to be traded to a contender, did not show up at the Toyota Center for COVID-19 testing until Tuesday, two days after the Rockets held their first team practice.
If you continue to test negative, you could be cleared to practice on Monday.
After practice on Wednesday, the Rockets were still unsure that Harden would be cleared to practice because they were waiting for news from the NBA on COVID-19 protocols following his suspension from training camp.
“We’re just trying to fix all of that right now,” said Rockets first-year coach Stephen Silas, who also noted that Sterling Brown has yet to practice with the Rockets due to COVID-19 protocols. “I wish I had a good answer for you. I wish I had a better answer for you when it comes to all of that, but I don’t.”
The NBA required players to test negative for coronavirus for three consecutive days before entering the team’s facilities for individual workouts prior to training camp. Players were also required to self-quarantine in addition to testing and training at the team’s facilities and essential activities such as grocery shopping.
However, Harden opted to exercise on his own at the University of Houston and attended rapper Lil Baby’s birthday party in Atlanta over the weekend and then spent a few nights in Las Vegas. Harden did not wear a mask at the birthday party or Las Vegas nightclubs, social events that violated the league’s COVID-19 protocols.
“It’s really hard to pinpoint what the protocol looks like right now just because of what the timing is like,” Silas said. “It’s not the same time as everyone else, is it? As for when you can start doing individual workouts, when you can join the team, when you can practice, we’re working with the NBA trying to figure out exactly when it is.
“But as far as I know at the moment, there is no clear plan as to what it looks like, just because it is out of the way we were doing it with the original group.”
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